Hayao Miyazaki coming out of retirement to make a new feature film

by Danny Kichi on Mon, Nov 14, 2016

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When Hayao Miyazaki called it quits in 2013, anime and movie fans all over the world lamented the retirement of one of Japan's most popular and critically acclaimed directors in history. But just last weekend, he announced that he would be coming out of retirement to direct one last feature film for Studio Ghibli, and needless to say, it's creating quite the buzz.

Studio Ghibli and Hayao Miyazaki fans rejoice! Having recently worked on a 12-minute CG short titled Kemushi no Boro,or Boro the Caterpillar, Miyazaki's creative juices seem to have got the best of him. Always the perfectionist, he apparently was unhappy with the outcome of the project, and now has a desire to turn it into a feature-length animated film. Appearing on a television special aptly titled Hayao Miyazaki: The Man Who Is Not Done, Miyazaki allowed cameras to film him working on the actual storyboards for his newest and final movie of his storied career. Kemushi no Boro, according to the director himself, is a story about "a tiny, hairy caterpillar, so tiny that it may be easily squished between your fingers." Apparently, Miyazaki has been developing this story for the last 20 years.

Despite being 75 years old, Miyazaki is ready to work on his new project for the next five years, making him 80 years old when the film finally gets released. But he's also hoping to be done before the Tokyo Olympics, which will take place in 2020. That's still quite a ways away, but we all know how time flies, and any Hayao Miyazaki movie is always worth the wait.